Mass Effect 3: Space Edition almost raffled off in illegal lottery

Two men who tried to raffle off one of the early Mass Effect 3 "Space Edition" copies decided to call their plan off, after discovering their actions could include possible jail time. Kotaku reported earlier today that videomakers Michael Davis and Miguel Droz were holding a lottery where folks interested in winning a copy of the game early could pay $5 for a ticket, with 30 percent of the accumulated cash going to the Child's Play charity. One tiny problem: It's all so illegal.

Former Law of the Game on Joystiq columnist Mark Methenitis explained that the pair could have faced jail time or massive fines in their home state of Nevada, to say nothing of the federal implications for taking cash from across the country.

Droz told Kotaku this afternoon that they should have done their due diligence and are refunding everyone's money. They "super apologize" for wasting anyone's time. Guess they'll just have to suffer through playing Mass Effect 3 now instead of selling it off.

Mass Effect 3 Info

Description

Earth is burning. Striking from beyond known space, a race of terrifying machines have begun their destruction of the human race. As Commander Shepard, an Alliance Marine, your only hope for saving mankind is to rally the civilizations of the galaxy and launch one final mission to take back the Earth.